THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala health department on Tuesday hiked the prices of RT-PCR tests in private labs by Rs 200. The RT-PCR tests will now be priced at Rs 1700 following a high court order.
The decision was taken after private hospitals and labs approached the court after the state government slashed the rates from Rs 2100 to Rs 1500 till January 1. The court had also allowed the labs to charge Rs 2100 till the government takes a final decision on these prices.
The rates of antigen test continue to be Rs 300.
While the state has are over 500 private labs to conduct antigen tests, the number of centres for RT-PCR tests is just 40. The tests conducted in government facilities are free of charge.
This is the fifth time in the last five months that the state government has revised the rates since October. The government's contention is that the competitive manufacturing practice of making testing kits according to the ICMR guidelines resulted in revising the prices.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had allowed private labs to charge according to the rates fixed by the ICMR and restricted the coverage of free test to economically weaker groups. ICMR has capped rates of COVID tests at Rs 4500.